This study examines current policy responses and programming trends related to the global issue of trafficking in persons. Intended as a tool for practitioners, it examines the situations, needs and experiences of trafficked persons, and argues for the urgent need to revise international approaches to research, advocacy, prevention, protection and assistance on their behalf. It suggests that in order to adequately address the problem of human trafficking there is a need to adopt a gender responsive, rights-based approach to both policy and practice. Furthermore, it argues that women and children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking due to a wide range of factors driving both supply and demand, and emphasizes the complex interplay of social, economic and political forces which determine the specific abuses which women and children face. Based on both qualitative and quantitative research, this study suggests that the plight of women and children is best addressed through long-term, macro projects which treat trafficking as a national development issue linked to larger regional and global development processes.